Impairment in face processing in autism spectrum disorder: a developmental perspective

Findings on face identity and facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are inconclusive. Moreover, little is known about the developmental trajectory of face processing skills in ASD. Taking a developmental perspective, the aim of this study was to extend previous findings on face processing skills in a sample of adolescents and adults with ASD. N = 38 adolescents and adults (13–49 years) with high-functioning ASD and n = 37 typically developing (TD) control subjects matched for age and IQ participated in the study. Moreover, n = 18 TD children between the ages of 8 and 12 were included to address the question whether face processing skills in ASD follow a delayed developmental pattern. Face processing skills were assessed using computerized tasks of face identity recognition (FR) and identification of facial emotions (IFE). ASD subjects showed impaired performance on several parameters of the FR and IFE task compared to TD control adolescents and adults. Whereas TD adolescents and adults outperformed TD children in both tasks, performance in ASD adolescents and adults was similar to the group of TD children. Within the groups of ASD and control adolescents and adults, no age-related changes in performance were found. Our findings corroborate and extend previous studies showing that ASD is characterised by broad impairments in the ability to process faces. These impairments seem to reflect a developmentally delayed pattern that remains stable throughout adolescence and adulthood.     

Do Parents Model Gestures Differently When Children’s Gestures Differ?

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or with Down syndrome (DS) show diagnosis-specific differences from typically developing (TD) children in gesture production. We asked whether these differences reflect the differences in parental gesture input. Our systematic observations of 23 children with ASD and 23 with DS (M_ages = 2;6)—compared to 23 TD children (M_age = 1;6) similar in expressive vocabulary—showed that across groups children and parents produced similar types of gestures and gesture-speech combinations. However, only children—but not their parents—showed diagnosis-specific variability in how often they produced each type of gesture and gesture-speech combination. These findings suggest that, even though parents model gestures similarly, the amount with which children produce each type largely reflects diagnosis-specific abilities.     

Neurocognitive Functioning in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

There is a paucity of research studying comprehensive neurocognitive profiles of adolescents with higher functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study compared the neurocognitive profiles of higher functioning adolescents with ASD (n = 30, mean age 13.5) with that of typically developing adolescents (n = 30; mean age 13.7). Adolescents with ASD demonstrated a significantly higher mean Verbal Intelligence Quotient compared to the standardized mean. However, the ASD group had significantly lower scores than the control group on the subtests Auditory Attention and Response Set, Memory for Faces, Visuomotor Precision, and Design Copying. Thus, particular strengths were seen in verbal reasoning, while weaknesses were observed in auditory attention, facial recognition memory, and visuomotor functions in adolescents with ASD.     

Facial emotion recognition in 4- to 8-year-olds with autism spectrum disorder: A developmental trajectory approach

The investigation of emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has both theoretical and practical implications. However, although many studies have examined facial emotion recognition in ASD, some points remain unclear. We therefore studied facial emotion recognition in young children with ASD across a small age range, in order to determine (1) their ability to recognize emotion and (2) the developmental trajectory of this ability. Twenty-two children with ASD aged 4–8 years were compared with typically developing children matched on either chronological age or verbal mental age. We administered three facial emotion tasks: matching, identification, and labeling. Results showed that children with ASD and typically developing children had difficulty with labeling emotions, but not with matching or identifying them. Happiness was the easiest to recognize, and surprise the hardest. The children with ASD did not exhibit delayed onset in the development of facial emotion recognition. To conclude, emotion recognition difficulties in children with ASD primarily concern the recognition of negative emotions and the identification of surprise, as they do in TD groups. This should be taken into account in future research, as well as in the design of future intervention programs.     

Reactive/proactive aggression and affective/cognitive empathy in children with ASD

The main aim of this study was to examine the extent to which affective and cognitive empathy were associated with reactive and proactive aggression, and whether these associations differed between children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children. The study included 133 children (67 ASD, 66 TD, Mage = 139 months), who filled out self-report questionnaires. The main findings showed that the association between reactive aggression and affective empathy was negative in TD children, but positive in children with ASD. The outcomes support the idea that a combination of poor emotion regulation and impaired understanding of others’ emotions is associated with aggressive behavior in children with ASD.     

Assessment of the Prerequisite Skills for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Children with and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders

The purpose of this study was to assess the cognitive skills of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) thought to be necessary for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Forty children with ASD and forty age-matched typically developing children between the ages of 7-12 years participated. Groups were comparable with regard to nonverbal IQ, but children with ASD had significantly lower verbal IQ. Children completed three CBT-related tasks requiring emotion recognition, discrimination among thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and cognitive mediation. With the exception of the emotion recognition task, children with ASD performed comparably to typically developing children and with a high rate of accuracy.     

Local visual perception bias in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders; do we have the whole picture?

Objective: While local bias in visual processing in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been reported to result in difficulties in recognizing faces and facially expressed emotions, but superior ability in disembedding figures, associations between these abilities within a group of children with and without ASD have not been explored. Methods: Possible associations in performance on the Visual Perception Skills Figure–Ground test, a face recognition test and an emotion recognition test were investigated within 25 8–12-years-old children with high-functioning autism/Asperger syndrome, and in comparison to 33 typically developing children. Results: Analyses indicated a weak positive correlation between accuracy in Figure–Ground recognition and emotion recognition. No other correlation estimates were significant. Conclusion: These findings challenge both the enhanced perceptual function hypothesis and the weak central coherence hypothesis, and accentuate the importance of further scrutinizing the existance and nature of local visual bias in ASD.     

Emotion Recognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Relations to Eye Gaze and Autonomic State

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), heart rate, and accuracy and latency of emotion recognition were evaluated in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing children while viewing videos of faces slowly transitioning from a neutral expression to one of six basic emotions (e.g., anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise). Children with ASD were slower in emotion recognition and selectively made more errors in detecting anger. ASD children had lower amplitude RSA and faster heart rate. Within the ASD group, children with higher amplitude RSA recognized emotions faster. Less severe ASD symptoms and increased gaze to the eye region in children with ASD were related to more accurate emotion recognition.     

Verbal,Visual, and Intermediary Support for Child Witnesses with Autism During Investigative Interviews

Three promising investigative interview interventions were assessed in 270 children (age 6–11 years): 71 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 199 who were typically developing (TD). Children received ‘Verbal Labels’, ‘Sketch Reinstatement of Context’ or ‘Registered Intermediary’ interviews designed to improve interview performance without decreasing accuracy. Children with ASD showed no increases in the number of correct details recalled for any of the three interview types (compared to a Best-Practice police interview), whereas TD children showed significant improvements in the Registered Intermediary and Verbal Labels interviews. Findings suggested that children with ASD can perform as well as TD children in certain types of investigative interviews, but some expected benefits (e.g., of Registered Intermediaries) were not apparent in this study.     

Brief Report: Episodic Foresight in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Episodic foresight (EpF) or, the ability to imagine the future and use such imagination to guide our actions, is an important aspect of cognition that has not yet been explored in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This is despite its proposed links with theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF), two areas found to be impaired in ASD. Twenty-five children with ASD (M = 5 years, 10 months; 22 male) and 25 mental-age-matched typically developing children (M = 4 years, 10 months; 22 male) completed a series of EpF, ToM, and EF tasks. Significant group differences were detected on several EpF tasks suggesting that children with ASD show impairments in thinking about their future selves.     

Emotional Abilities in Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD): Impairments in Perspective-Taking and Understanding Mixed Emotions are Associated with High Callous–Unemotional Traits

Most studies of emotion abilities in disruptive children focus on emotion expression recognition. This study compared 74 children aged 4–8 years with ODD to 45 comparison children (33 healthy; 12 with an anxiety disorder) on behaviourally assessed measures of emotion perception, emotion perspective-taking, knowledge of emotions causes and understanding ambivalent emotions and on parent-reported cognitive and affective empathy. Adjusting for child’s sex, age and expressive language ODD children showed a paucity in attributing causes to emotions but no other deficits relative to the comparison groups. ODD boys with high levels of callous–unemotional traits (CU) (n = 22) showed deficits relative to low CU ODD boys (n = 25) in emotion perspective-taking and in understanding ambivalent emotions. Low CU ODD boys did not differ from the healthy typically developing boys (n = 12). Impairments in emotion perceptive-taking and understanding mixed emotions in ODD boys are associated with the presence of a high level of CU.     

Maternal and Paternal Parenting and Associations with School Performance in a Sample of Children with Varying Levels of Externalizing Behavior Problems

This study examined associations between parenting behaviors and school performance in children oversampled for externalizing behavior problems. Participants were 147 mothers (M _age = 36.46 years, SD = 5.66) and 110 fathers (M _age = 39.31 SD = 6.26) of 148 children (M _age = 9.64 years, SD = 1.59). The majority of children (83.7%) met diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and/or oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder. Ratings of maternal and paternal effective control and emotional responsiveness were collected, and standardized achievement scores, teacher ratings of disruptive classroom behavior, and teacher ratings of student–teacher and student–peer relationships were used as indicators of school performance. Associations of medium size emerged between maternal parenting and school performance domains. In contrast, very few associations between paternal variables were demonstrated, with the exception of paternal reduction of child emotion being robustly associated with school performance variables. Exploratory analyses demonstrated that paternal positive involvement mitigated the negative effects of dysfunctional maternal behavior on spelling achievement and peer functioning. These findings point to the importance of considering parent functioning in the school performance of children with externalizing problems. Attention to addressing parenting difficulties common to many children with externalizing behavior problems may help to promote adaptive school functioning.     

Beyond individual differences: are working memory and inhibition informative specifiers within ASD?

Findings on working memory (WM) and inhibition in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are contradictory and earlier studies largely ignored individual differences. As WM and inhibition seem to be related, children who experience WM deficits might also experience inhibition deficits. Moreover, these children possibly form a distinct subgroup, differing on other variables, such as cognitive functioning, symptom severity, behavior, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) characteristics. We studied a large sample of children with and without ASD (8–12 years, IQ > 80) with classic experimental tasks (n-back task, ASD n = 77, control n = 45; stop task, ASD n = 74, control n = 43), and explored individual differences. The ASD group made more errors on the n-back task with increasing WM load, and had longer stop signal reaction times on the stop task when compared with controls. However, only 6 % of the ASD group showed both WM and inhibition deficits, and 71 % showed no deficits. Parents of children with WM and/or inhibition deficits tended to report more conduct problems on the disruptive behavior disorder rating scale. ADHD characteristics did not influence performance. Some children used medication during testing, which seemingly influenced stop task performance, but excluding these data did not change the main findings. Large individual differences in cognitive functioning are present, even within children with ASD with average or above average intelligence. However, whether individual differences in specific cognitive domains, such as WM and inhibition are as informative as individual differences in diagnosis, comorbidity, and general cognitive functioning, calls for future research.     

Television, Video Game and Social Media Use Among Children with ASD and Typically Developing Siblings

This study examined the nature of television, video game, and social media use in children (ages 8–18) with autism spectrum disorders (ASD, n = 202) compared to typically developing siblings (TD, n = 179), and relative to other activities. Parents completed measures assessing children’s screen-based and other extracurricular activities. Children with ASD spent approximately 62 % more time watching television and playing video games than in all non-screen activities combined. Compared with TD siblings, children with ASD spent more hours per day playing video games (2.4 vs. 1.6 for boys, and 1.8 vs. 0.8 for girls), and had higher levels of problematic video game use. In contrast, children with ASD spent little time using social media or socially interactive video games.     

Empathy and Empathy Induced Prosocial Behavior in 6- and 7-Year-Olds with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The present study aimed to assess empathy and prosocial behavior in 6–7 year old children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Results showed, first, lower levels of parent- and teacher-rated cognitive empathy, and similar levels of affective empathy in children with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) children. Second, emotion recognition for basic emotions, one aspect of cognitive empathy, in a story task was adequate in ASD children, but ASD children with severe impairments in social responsiveness had difficulties in recognizing fear. Third, prosocial behavior in response to signals of distress of a peer in a computer task was similar in ASD as in TD children. In conclusion, early elementary school children with ASD show specific impairments in cognitive empathy.     

ERP Correlates of Recognition Memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Recognition memory in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tends to be undiminished compared to that of typically developing (TD) individuals (Bowler et al. 2007), but it is still unknown whether memory in ASD relies on qualitatively similar or different neurophysiology. We sought to explore the neural activity underlying recognition by employing the old/new word repetition event-related potential effect. Behavioural recognition performance was comparable across both groups, and demonstrated superior recognition for low frequency over high frequency words. However, the ASD group showed a parietal rather than anterior onset (300–500 ms), and diminished right frontal old/new effects (800–1500 ms) relative to TD individuals. This study shows that undiminished recognition performance results from a pattern of differing functional neurophysiology in ASD.     

Processing of Emotion Words by Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Evidence from Reaction Times and EEG

This study investigated processing of emotion words in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using reaction times and event-related potentials (ERP). Adults with (n = 21) and without (n = 20) ASD performed a lexical decision task on emotion and neutral words while their brain activity was recorded. Both groups showed faster responses to emotion words compared to neutral, suggesting intact early processing of emotion in ASD. In the ERPs, the control group showed a typical late positive component (LPC) at 400–600 ms for emotion words compared to neutral, while the ASD group showed no LPC. The between-group difference in LPC amplitude was significant, suggesting that emotion words were processed differently by individuals with ASD, although their behavioral performance was similar to that of typical individuals.     

Observation of Spontaneous Expressive Language (OSEL): A New Measure for Spontaneous and Expressive Language of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Other Communication Disorders

A new language measure, the Observation of Spontaneous Expressive Language (OSEL), is intended to document spontaneous use of syntax, pragmatics, and semantics in 2–12-year-old children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other communication disorders with expressive language levels comparable to typical 2–5 year olds. Because the purpose of the OSEL is to provide developmental norms for use of language, the first step involves assessment of the scale’s feasibility, validity, and reliability using a sample of 180 2–5 year-old typically developing children. Pilot data from the OSEL shows strong internal consistency, high reliabilities and validity. Once replicated with a large population-based sample and in special populations, the scale should be helpful in designing appropriate interventions for children with ASD and other communication disorders.     

A Cost of Illness Study of Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders and Comorbid Anxiety Disorders as Compared to Clinically Anxious and Typically Developing Children

The study’s aim was to estimate the societal costs of children with high-functioning ASD and comorbid anxiety disorder(s) (ASD + AD-group; n = 73), and to compare these costs to children with anxiety disorders (AD-group; n = 34), and typically developing children (controls; n = 87). Mean total costs for the ASD + AD-group amounted €17,380 per year. Societal costs were estimated at almost 142 million euro per year. Costs in the ASD + AD-group were four times higher compared to the AD-group, and 27 times higher compared to controls. ASD-related costs were higher in the ASD + AD-group; anxiety-related costs did not differ between the ASD + AD- and AD-group; costs due to physical or other reasons did not differ across groups. The findings suggest that costs can be decreased if effective treatment options for treating anxiety in ASD are established, however, the remaining costs associated with ASD would still be large. A limitation of the study is that a group of children with ASD without anxiety disorders is lacking.     

How do Typically Developing Deaf Children and Deaf Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Use the Face When Comprehending Emotional Facial Expressions in British Sign Language?

Facial expressions in sign language carry a variety of communicative features. While emotion can modulate a spoken utterance through changes in intonation, duration and intensity, in sign language specific facial expressions presented concurrently with a manual sign perform this function. When deaf adult signers cannot see facial features, their ability to judge emotion in a signed utterance is impaired (Reilly et al. in Sign Lang Stud 75:113–118, 1992). We examined the role of the face in the comprehension of emotion in sign language in a group of typically developing (TD) deaf children and in a group of deaf children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We replicated Reilly et al.’s (Sign Lang Stud 75:113–118, 1992) adult results in the TD deaf signing children, confirming the importance of the face in understanding emotion in sign language. The ASD group performed more poorly on the emotion recognition task than the TD children. The deaf children with ASD showed a deficit in emotion recognition during sign language processing analogous to the deficit in vocal emotion recognition that has been observed in hearing children with ASD.